Ever since I started doing systems administration, I’ve been interested in applying Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller’scomprehensive anticipatory design science to the task. Bucky extolled the virtues of a comprehensive approach. Put bluntly, the comprehensive perspective says “since what you don’t attend to will get ya, you had better consider everything. Or said positively: only by considering all elements in a system and all its interrelationships with other (relevant) systems can you ensure reliable on-going operation. In addition, the proactive or anticipatory approach is essential to prevent system complexities from impacting operations. I think of design as human initiative-taking to provide a service or artifact and science as experience-based learning. Evidently, design science is implicit in the work of systems administrators. I think the discipline of comprehensive anticipatory design science can be positively applied to the practice of systems administration.

So I am excited that on November 14 & 15, I will be attending the Synergetics Collaborative’s two-day Symposium on “Design Science” at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Together with the organizing committee, we (I serve as volunteer Executive Director of the Synergetics Collaborative) have put together a program that will develop a deeper understanding of design science. So even though computer systems administration is not on the agenda, I think anyone with a problem-solving focus in their work (including systems administrators) would benefit by attending.